Inventory of the Swift & Allen Records In the New Bedford Whaling Museum Research LibraryProcessed by: Patricia J. Albright; machine-readable finding aid created by: Kermit DeweyFunds for processing this collection were provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.Inventory of the Swift & Allen Records In the New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library

For almost fifty years, during the most prosperous era enjoyed by the American whale fishery, Swift & Allen of New Bedford, Mass., served that industry as agents, ship chandlers, and commission merchants. This organization, established in 1842 by Frederick S. Allen (1812-1896) and his brother-in-law, Jireh Swift (1809-1905), grew out of Allen's earlier mercantile partnerships with Thomas C. Lothrop, 1832-1836, and Ireneus Gooding, 1836-1841. Swift & Allen were major suppliers of cordage, iron ware, groceries, and other goods needed to outfit whaling vessels of New Bedford and nearby ports. In addition, the firm acted as agents for over twenty vessels from about 1844-1887, handling the outfits, accounts of crew members and master, and sales of whale-oil, sperm oil, and whale bone for each vessel. Swift & Allen prospered with the whaling industry as a whole until after 1860, when Confederate raiders and Arctic ice caused the loss of numerous vessels and sales were beginning to feel the impact of the burgeoning petroleum industry. The firm's business activity gradually declined in the 1880s, and in 1891 the partnership of Swift & Allen ended.

This collection principally consists of business records of Swift & Allen, 1842-1890, including some documents which actually predate the existence of the firm, 1818-1841. These materials are supplemented by similar records concerning the partnership's predecessors, Lothrop & Allen and Gooding & Allen, dating from 1834-1856. Among the Swift & Allen records are both business and personal papers of Henry Howland Crapo (1804-1869) and his son, William Wallace Crapo (1830-1926), prominent New Bedford lawyers who handled most of the firm's insurance matters and legal affairs. Also included in the collection are a letter book and insurance policies for Swift Brothers, a lumber business conducted by two of Jireh Swift's distant cousins between ca. 1849-1860, and accounts of Taber's Wharf Company, a docking and wharfage organization for which Frederick S. Allen served as agent from 1869-1893.

Records for Lothrop & Allen and Gooding & Allen have been organized as Sub-group 1 and Sub-group 2, respectively, within this collection. Documents for each firm encompass day books, ledgers, and other financial records; invoices and bills and receipts; and a variety of sales and shipping records, 1834-1856. In addition, the records of Gooding & Allen contain a letter book with copies of the firm's outgoing correspondence. Several volumes in these two Sub-groups include entries which actually relate to the activities of Swift & Allen from 1842-1856.

Comprising the bulk of this collection are records of Swift & Allen. These materials are organized in Sub-group 3, which is further arranged in seven Series beginning with Financial Records in Series A. These materials include ledgers, accounts current, cash books, and other documents detailing the expenses and profits of Swift & Allen between 1842-1890. This Series also contains records relating to insurance purchased on vessels and goods, most notably, several cost of insurance books; insurance policies, accounts, and memoranda relating to insurance on whaling vessels during the Civil War; and reports and legal documents concerning wrecks or collisions of ships in which Swift & Allen held a financial interest. Materials in Series A are arranged in Sub-series by type of document and listed in chronological order except for those items concerning wrecks and collisions, which are grouped by name of vessel.

Series B consists of invoices, returns, purchase orders, bills, receipts, and memoranda relating to whale oil, whale bone, supplies, and other goods purchased or received by Swift & Allen between 1842-1884. Returns and gauges of whale oil shipped on different vessels are arranged by ship name, while other records in this series are organized chronologically.

Labor Records in Series C of Sub-group 3 provide information about wages and working conditions of crew members and masters serving on Swift & Allen vessels between 1842 and 1887. These documents include records of wages received by seamen upon the settlement of each voyage; accounts of clothing and other goods obtained by crew members and of food and supplies purchased by captains during specific voyages; agreements between the agents and seamen; crew lists; protection papers, including an item dating from 1818; bills of health; discharge records; and material relating to desertions. Except for the seamen's accounts, records in this series are arranged by name of vessel.

A particularly significant Series in this collection reflects sales and shipments of merchandise and products of whaling by Swift & Allen. Series D documents include general sales and consignment sales accounts, 1844-1887; monthly sales totals for 1842-1877; memoranda regarding whales, whale-oil, and whale bone taken, shipped, or sold, 1846-1891; and an extensive run of outfitting books listing supplies obtained from Swift & Allen for use on specific whaling vessels between 1844-1886. Volumes in the latter category are organized by ship name; other sales and shipping records are arranged in chronological order.

Series E in Sub-group 3 consists of various legal documents which reflect the association of Henry Howland Crapo and his son, William Wallace Crapo, with Swift & Allen. Both Crapos were prominent New Bedford lawyers, and a large number of their papers--including documents predating the organization of Swift & Allen--were interfiled with the firm's records. Most of these papers relate to vessels or seamen in which Swift & Allen may have had an interest; thus, some of the Crapos' insurance records have been filed in Series A of this Sub-group, while all of their legal papers remain in Series E. The bulk of this Series, dating from 1831-1888, consists of records relating to Alabama Claims put forth by Swift & Allen relating to the loss of Jireh Swift (Bark) to the Shenandoah, 1862-1885; estate records, 1836-1871, chiefly concerning seamen who died while on board Swift & Allen vessels; and case files containing briefs, depositions, and other documents principally concerning crew members' or masters' disputes over wages, ca. 1850-1870. Also included in this Series are writs, protests, agreements, contracts, leases, bonds, power of attorney certificates, a bill of sale, licenses, patents, and memoranda. Estate records and case files in Series E are alphabetically arranged by surnames. Other legal documents are organized chronologically.

Business correspondence in Series F chronicles the activities of Swift & Allen during most of the firm's existence. Consisting of both incoming and outgoing letters, these materials include correspondence of captains of Swift & Allen vessels and of fellow merchants and agents at Boston, New York, Nantucket, Honolulu, London, and elsewhere. Particularly notable are letters describing the impact of various business depressions on the whaling industry and correspondence from ship captains concerning the Arctic Disaster of 1871. Also contained in Series F are many letters to and from Henry Howland Crapo and William Wallace Crapo. These materials chiefly reflect the elder Crapo's duties as Secretary of the Bedford Commercial Marine Insurance Company in the 1840s-1850s and his son's involvement with Swift & Allen's Alabama Claims between 1865-1885. Incoming correspondence in this Series has been divided by year, then alphabetically arranged by name of writer. Swift & Allen letter books are filed in chronological order.

The final Series in Sub-group 3 consists of business and personal papers of the Crapos which seem to have no relation to vessels, individuals, or subjects of interest to Swift & Allen. Like other Crapo material in this collection, these items were interfiled with Swift & Allen records, but, because of their distinctive character and potential research value, this material has been separated into two Sub-series within Series G. Henry Howland Crapo's papers reflect his service as a Bristol County, Mass., justice of the peace called upon to hear complaints concerning local militia units in 1833; his involvement with New Bedford's efforts to aid Nantucket following the great fire on the island in 1846; and his activities as town clerk and treasurer in 1846-1848 which made him responsible for paying members of New Bedford fire engine companies. William Wallace Crapo's smaller group of papers, dating from 1862-1871, consists of agreements, bills, receipts, and memoranda relating to his financial interest in several vessels and a bill for two paintings purchased from William A. Wall in 1865.

Following the records of Swift & Allen in this collection are records of the Swift Brothers in Sub-group 4. Consisting of a letter book and insurance policies, 1849-1859, these records reflect the activities of a lumber business based in New Bedford which harvested live oaks from Louisiana swamps. Although the Swift Brothers, William Cole Nye Swift and Obed Nye Swift, were distant cousins of Jireh Swift, the reasons behind the presence of these records in the Swift & Allen Collection remain obscure.

The final Sub-group in this collection is devoted to records of Taber’s Wharf Company of New Bedford. Frederick S. Allen acted as agent for that firm from 1869-1893, and these records, consisting of a ledger, statement, and accounts, reflect sums paid by ship owners for rental of wharf storage and mooring space.

Researchers should note that log books relating to voyages of Swift & Allen vessels were given to the New Bedford Free Public Library in 1883. Appendix I of this inventory lists the names of these vessels and dates covered by the logs, which are available on microfilm at the Old Dartmouth Historical Society Whaling Museum Library.

Access to the Collection

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Most records in this collection were given to the Old Dartmouth Historical Society in 1945 by Mrs. Henry Forster. The Society in turn gave a major portion of the Swift & Allen Collection to Baker Library, Harvard University, in 1946. These records--lacking numerous day books discarded by Baker Library in the 1950s--were reunited with the volumes remaining in the Society's possession in 1968. Other materials which are now part of the collection were donated by Matthew Curran, Col. Horace W. Forster, and Charles R. Phillips in 1965 and by Mrs. Ernest Gates in 1970.